Former Manitoba cabinet minister Stan Struthers is facing more accusations in Friday from women who said they were tickled by him while he was in office.
“I was working on a project back in 2013. It was a lot of tight timelines and
deadlines,” Julie Kentner, a public affairs specialist with the Manitoba
Government, told Global News. “He reached over and tickled me in my rib cage and it was really startling.”Kentner, who first posted about the incident on her Facebook page, said it was an unsettling experience.
She said she pulled away from him and quickly finished the meeting.
Then she immediately called her supervisors who were “terrific”. She didn’t want to report the incident and they supported her decision.
“I was alone in a room with him. It would have turned into a ‘he said, she
said’ kind of process,” Kentner said. “I just didn’t think it was worth the time, effort and potential reputational damage to myself and the effects it could have on my career.”
Kentner said Struthers’ alleged behaviour will not be tolerated. She is the
latest woman to speak out about the former NDP MLA. On Thursday his
former press secretary, Joelle Saltel-Allard, said he touched and tickled her – often in front of other people.
In 2010, Shannon Van Raes worked for Struthers and said he asked her if she liked being tickled and then put his hands under her skirt and groped her. She said she complained about the behaviour, but was told to grow a thicker skin and suck it up.
Struthers has apologized for any interactions that made people feel
disrespected or uncomfortable.